NASA Seeks Lunar Terrain Vehicle Services for Artemis Missions

NASA Seeks Lunar Terrain Vehicle Services for Artemis Missions

To investigate the south polar region of the Moon during Artemis missions, NASA is looking for industry proposals for a next-generation LTV (Lunar Terrain Vehicle). This LTV will enable humans to travel further and carry out more science than ever before.

The Artemis crew will use the LTV to explore and sample more of the lunar surface than they could do on foot. Instead of owning the rover, NASA will hire LTV as a service from the private sector. NASA can take advantage of private innovation and offer the best value to American taxpayers while meeting its goals for human spaceflight science and exploration by contracting services from business partners.

Lara Kearney, manager of NASA’s Extravehicular Activity and Human Surface Mobility program at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, said, “We want to leverage industry’s knowledge and innovation, combined with NASA’s history of successfully operating rovers, to make the best possible surface rover for our astronaut crews and scientific researchers.”

The Lunar Terrain Vehicle will operate similarly to a hybrid of an unmanned Mars rover and an Apollo-style lunar rover. Similar to NASA’s Curiosity and Perseverance Mars rovers, it will support both phases driven by astronauts and phases as an unmanned mobile science exploration platform. This will make it possible to conduct scientific even when there aren’t any crews on the lunar surface. The LTV will be used by the Artemis astronauts to travel around the lunar surface and transport research gear, increasing the lengths they can travel on each moonwalk.

NASA has specified requirements for businesses interested in creating and demonstrating the LTV under the Lunar Terrain Vehicle Services Request for Proposals, including a strategy that encourages businesses to create an innovative rover for use by NASA and other commercial customers for several years.

In order to move supplies and scientific payloads between crewed landing sites and enable more science returns, resource exploration, and lunar exploration, engineers will be able to control the LTV remotely. This will increase the amount of scientific study that can be conducted on the Moon during uncrewed operations, allow researchers to look into potential surface mission landing sites, and help them determine their aims and objectives for each location.

The Lunar Terrain Vehicle will need to have several systems to support both crewed and uncrewed operations to manage the peculiar environment near the lunar South Pole, which includes permanently darkened regions and prolonged periods without sunlight. Modern communication and navigation systems, semi-autonomous driving, enhanced power management, and environmental protection are some of the more crucial systems.

Companies are needed to offer end-to-end services as part of the bids, from development and delivery to the lunar surface to execution of operations. Each rover must be capable of accommodating two astronauts in spacesuits, a robotic arm, or other devices to aid in science exploration and the harsh conditions at the lunar South Pole. Before employing the LTV with humans, the corporation will be required to successfully test it in a lunar environment.  

As of Artemis V in 2029, NASA plans to employ the LTV for crewed activities. The rover will be utilized for uncrewed and commercial tasks before the crew arrives once it landed on the lunar surface.

The deadline for proposals for the Lunar Terrain Vehicle services contract is July 10, 2023, and the contract will be awarded in November of that same year. Through a draft call for proposals and an earlier request for information, this request for proposals has considered industry feedback.

Through Artemis, NASA will send astronauts to the Moon for scientific research, and commercial gain, and to lay the groundwork for crewed missions to Mars, including the first woman and person of color. 

The basis for NASA’s deep space exploration comprises its Space Launch System rocket, Orion spacecraft, Gateway lunar orbiting base, cutting-edge spacesuits and rovers, and human landing devices.

Perseverance Rover’s “Pet Rock” Departs After Year on Mars

Perseverance Rover’s “Pet Rock” Departs After Year on Mars

After spending more than a year together on Mars, NASA’s Perseverance rover and its traveling “pet rock” have finally parted ways. Despite many strenuous attempts to remove it, the rock had lodged in the rover’s front left wheel on its 341st Martian day and accompanied it for more than half of its stay on the Red Planet. Although the rock did not endanger the rover’s scientific mission, it occasionally interfered with photography. Hitchhiking rocks has caused problems for other Mars rovers, but Perseverance has managed to continue its mission successfully.

The backstory of the “Pet Rock”!

On February 4th, 2022 or Sol 341, Perseverance rover inadvertently acquired a pet rock lodged in its front left wheel. Although the rock did not pose a threat to the rover’s scientific objectives, it intermittently disrupted images and persisted despite attempts to dislodge it through various forceful maneuvers. The situation was aptly compared by mission scientists to “having a pebble stuck in your shoe.”

A Perseverance student collaborator from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Eleni Ravanis wrote a mission update. According to Ravanis: “If this pet rock could talk, it might tell us about the changes it’s noticed as we traveled back north through the Octavia E. Butler landing site, and then west, passing the spectacular remains of the former extent of the delta, ‘Kodiak,’ on our journey to the western Jezero delta,”.

NASA’s Perseverance rover has successfully dislodged a rock that had become lodged in its front left wheel for over a year, akin to a pebble stuck in a shoe. The rock had accompanied the rover for more than half of its mission on Mars. However, this will not be posing any obstacle to the rover’s mission. This separation marks the end of an interesting hitchhiking experience for the rock, and a continued successful mission for the Perseverance rover.

NASA released an image on April 18 (Sol 768) which shows the front left wheel of the Perseverance rover. The image indicates the lodged rock had been dislodged. The rock had been present in the rover’s wheel for approximately 439 days or 427 sols, which accounts for about 55% of the time that the Perseverance rover has been on Mars since its touchdown on February 18, 2021. During their time together, the two of them walked about 6.2 miles (10 kilometers).  It is noteworthy that a sol, or a Martian day, is 37 minutes longer than an Earth day.

Perseverance Rover
Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SWNS)

Throughout its mission, the Perseverance rover has accumulated multiple smaller rocks in its various wheels. Yet, all of these were dislodged within a few days or weeks of becoming stuck and did not pose any danger to the rover. But it should be said that rocks that got stuck in other parts of the rover have caused problems in the past.

In December 2021, Perseverance inner machinery was impeded by a cluster of small pebbles, resulting in the rover shutting down for almost a week. Mission scientists had to carefully analyze the situation to determine the best course of action for safely removing the obstructions before the rover could resume its operations.

Now we should also keep this in mind,

Other Rovers who faced the same problems:

The phenomenon of hitchhiking rocks has caused plenty of difficulties for other Mars rovers as well. Just like in December 2004, the operators of NASA’s Spirit rover had to execute a sharp turn to dislodge a “potato-sized” stone from its right-rear wheel. This action was taken because mission scientists were concerned that the rock could cause severe damage to the rover, as confirmed by NASA.

 

Published by: Sky Headlines

NASA’s Perseverance Mars Rover Perfectly Completes Sample Depot on Another Planet!

NASA’s Perseverance Mars Rover Perfectly Completes Sample Depot on Another Planet!

After it began the construction of the first mars sample depot took less than six weeks to complete its mission. At Southern California in NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the mission controllers received confirmation that the Perseverance Mars rover successfully dropped the 10th and final tube planned for the depot around 5 p.m. PST (8 p.m. EST) Sunday, Jan. 29.

How is this going to help in the research of Mars?

This big achievement was all thanks to precise planning and navigation. This ensures that the tubes could be safely returning back in the future. The NASA-ESA (European Space Agency) Mars rover Sample Return campaign, aims to bring samples from Mars to Earth. This will be very essential for closer examination. Which is going to help in studying Mars’s habitat.

nasa's-perseverance-mars-rover-perfectly-completes-sample-depot-on-another-planet
The Perseverance rover’s WATSON camera took this image. It is the 10th and last tube to be deployed during the creation of the first mars sample depot on another world, on Jan. 28, 2023, the 690th Martian day, or sol, of the mission. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

During its science campaigns, the rover has collected a pair of samples from rocks regarded as scientifically substantial by the mission team. Scientists have stored one sample from each pair in the organized depot in the “Three Forks” region of Jezero Crater. The depot samples serve as backup. The other half remains inside Perseverance.

One sample from each pair collected thus far is now stored in the nicely organized depot in the “Three Forks” region of Jezero Crater. The Mars sample depot samples will be very useful as a backup set. While the other half will be kept inside Perseverance. This will be the primary means of transporting samples to a Sample Retrieval Lander as part of the campaign.

According to mission scientists, the igneous and sedimentary rock cores will be very beneficial. It will provide an excellent sample of the geologic processes that occurred in Jezero shortly after the crater’s formation about 4 billion years ago.

The rover also left an atmospheric sample and a “witness” tube. This will help to see if the samples being collected are contaminated with materials carried by the rover from Earth.

The “Witness” tube!

The titanium tubes are put on the surface in an intricate zigzag pattern. Each sample spaces about 15 to 50 feet (5 to 15 meters) apart to ensure a safe return. The team must precisely map the location of each 7-inch-long (18.6-centimeter-long) tube and glove (adapter) combination. So that the samples could be found even if covered in dust. However, this was time-consuming in the depot-creation process. On the flat ground near the base of an ancient river delta. This was formed long ago when a river flowed into a lake where the Mars sample depot is located.

Passing the Rocky Top outcrop marks the end of the rover’s Delta Front Campaign because of the geologic transition that occurs at that level. And also the beginning of the rover’s Delta Top Campaign.

Curvilinear Unit:

One of the first stops the Mars rover will make during the new science campaign will be at a location  “Curvilinear Unit” by the science team. The unit, which is essentially a Martian sandbar, is made of sediment that was deposited ages ago in a bend in one of Jezero’s inflowing river channels. The science team believes the Curvilinear Unit will be an excellent location for searching for intriguing sandstone and possibly mudstone outcrops, as well as gaining insight into the geological processes occurring beyond the walls of Jezero Crater.

This map shows where NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover dropped 10 samples so that a future mission could pick them up. After more than five weeks of work, the sample depot was completed Jan. 28, 2023, the 690th day, or sol, of the mission.Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech
This map shows where NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover dropped 10 samples so that a future mission could pick them up. It took more than five weeks of work, the mars sample depot on Jan. 28, 2023, the 690th day, or sol, of the mission.
Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech

What are Rick Welch and Ken Farley’s remarks about this milestone?

Rick Welch is the deputy project manager of JPL. He says that “With the Three Forks depot in our rearview mirror, Perseverance is now headed up the delta,”. Moreover, he said: “We’ll make our ascent via the ‘Hawksbill Gap’ route we previously explored. Once we pass the geologic unit the science team calls ‘Rocky Top,’ we will be in new territory and begin exploring the Delta Top.”

Perseverance project scientist at Caltech “Ken Farley” said: “We found that from the base of the delta up to the level where Rocky Top is located, the rocks appear to have been deposited in a lake environment,”. Moreover, he said: “And those just above Rocky Top appear to have been created in or at the end of a Martian river flowing into the lake. As we ascend the delta into a river setting, we expect to move into rocks that are composed of larger grains – from sand to large boulders. Those materials likely originated in rocks outside Jezero, eroded, and washed into the crater.”

 

Published by: Sky Headlines